Stephen Piscotty was back playing right field for the A’s on Wednesday. He had no impact while going 0 for 2 during a spring training game featuring 23 runs and 30 hits in Peoria, Ariz. on Wednesday.
It didn’t matter.
It’s not often a non-roster invitee borrowed from minor league camp elicits such good feelings among players and fans as Piscotty, who was making his first appearance in an A’s uniform since 2022.
Unfortunately, he got a good view of the Padres pummeling A’s starter Ross Stripling, who gave up 13 hits in just 3 2/3 innings as San Diego raced to an 8-0 lead on its way to a 12-11 win.
The 33-year-old Piscotty, who is ticketed for Triple-A as he tries to resurrect his career, was out of the game by the time the young A’s battled back to make things interesting. Jacob Wilson, the A’s No. 1 prospect, had two hits and drove in a pair of runs to spark the comeback. Max Muncy, Oakland’s No. 8 prospect, chipped in by belting his second home run of the spring.
Piscotty hasn’t played in the majors since August 2022, when the A’s released him to end his five-year run with the team he adored while growing up in Pleasanton. He was instantly beloved by fans across the major leagues when St. Louis traded him to Oakland before the 2018 season so he could be close to his mother, Gretchen, who was in the final stages of Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Wearing the same No. 25 as one of his A’s favorites, Mark McGwire, Piscotty had his best season that first year in Oakland, when he blasted 27 home runs and drove in 88 runs. His final four seasons with the A’s were marred by a myriad of injuries, and he was released in 2022 while batting just .190 through 42 games.
His attempts the last couple of seasons to make it back to the majors haven’t panned out, despite some Triple-A success with the Reds, Giants and White Sox, all of whom released him to allow him an opportunity to catch on elsewhere.
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The A’s signed Piscotty to a minor league contract on Feb. 2 after he reached out to general manager David Forst, looking for one more chance.
“I’m fired up to be back with the green and gold,” Piscotty told the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea recently, while thanking Forst for the opportunity to continue playing, even if it’s in the minor leagues.